"Before setting to work, be completely penetrated by your subject. If you do not understand it, seek out or do something else. Remember that everything must first be thought out, forgetting nothing, down to the smallest detail. Then think of the layout, the colors, and the arrangement. Do no work without thinking of all those things too, for nature, your only true master, has forgotten nothing. Never deviate from these principles and you will not be a mediocre painter. . . Character comes from a proper understanding of the truth. . . Various things have led me to think, rightly, that the artist must discover all composition and arrangement within himself, that he must take his inspiration from Nature, though never counting on her; for often we do not find until tomorrow what we needed yesterday. . . Every living moment must be spent in study. . . Let us always keep this great truth in mind. . . "